When a hand implement, such as a shovel, impacts against a dense substance such as ice or a rock, a shock may be imparted through the implement. Several devices have been identified which attempt to provide a cushion or shock absorber to the handle. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,954 Shaud 1987; AU 9645895 Deliu 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,634 Jacobs et al; WO99/55135 Nicholl 1999 and GB2,371,513 Russell, all show handles with a linear compression device, usually a compression spring.
Although a linear compression device, in an implement handle, may act as a shock absorber in axial type loads, I have improved on such devices by integrating a deflection feature using a resilient component to the implement handle to absorb lifting loads. Such a shovel is illustrated in my patent Canadian application CA 2,641,020.
The devices shown and described in CA 2,641,020 add an articulated, resilient, leveraging feature, to the shovel handle, providing a force assisting boost allowing the user to heave the contents on the shovel much further, using the energy stored by the resilient device.